W1D1

Anderson_5e_PPT_Ch02.PPTX

Chapter 2: History of Organization Development

A History of Organization Development

Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.

Period		Theme	Influence Today
1940s	First-Generation OD	laboratory training andt-groups	small-group research leadership styles team building
1950s		action research, survey feedback, and sociotechnical systems	employee surveys organization development processes sociotechnical systems theory and design
1960s		Management practices	participative management
1970s		Quality and employee involvement	Quality programs such as six sigma, total Quality Management, and self-managed or employee-directed teams
1980s	Second-Generation OD	organizational culture	Culture work, specifically in mergers and acquisitions
1980s–1990s		Change management, strategic change, and reengineering	systems theory, large-scale and whole-organization interventions
1990s		organizational learning	Currently practiced; appreciative inquiry
2000s		organizational effectiveness and employee engagement	Currently practiced
2010s		agility and collaboration	Currently practiced; dialogic oD

Table 2.1 History of Organization Development

Table 2.1: History of Organization Development.

Laboratory Training and T-Groups (1 of 2)

Kurt Lewin (1890–1947): founder of modern social psychology, interested in groups:

Founded Research Center for Group Dynamics at MIT; National Training Laboratory (NTL).

T-groups: small unstructured groups, facilitated to explore personal issues.

Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.

Laboratory Training and T-Groups (2 of 2)

Attendees and researchers learn that people can learn about their own behavior when they get feedback about it from an observer.

The concept takes hold among executives and managers, prompted by a 1955 BusinessWeek article.

Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.

The concept takes hold among executives and managers, prompted by a 1955 BusinessWeek article: In the next ten years, more than 20,000 people will attend a T-group.

Action Research

Action Research (Lewin’s term): The process of bringing social research practices to people and groups to develop theoretical and practical knowledge and contribute to change.

Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.

Survey Feedback (1 of 2)

Late 1940s/Early 1950s survey study at Detroit Edison:

First survey of 8,000 employees and managers to understand their attitudes and opinions about the company and work environment.

Feedback shared in an “interlocking chain of conferences.”

Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.

Survey Feedback (2 of 2)

Late 1940s/Early 1950s survey study at Detroit Edison:

Second survey administered 2 years later as a follow-up. Some groups take action based on the results, some do not.

Third survey administered another 2 years later.

Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.

Third survey administered another 2 years later: Finding: Among groups that took action based on the results, employees report positive changes about their work, supervisors, and work environment.

Management Practices (1 of 5)

Reacting to prevailing management practices and based on new research findings, MacGregor, Likert, Blake and Mouton, and Herzberg (among others) proposed new ways of managing in order to improve productivity and employee motivation.

Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.

Management Practices (2 of 5)

Douglas MacGregor:

Theory X.

Theory Y.

Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.

Management Practices (3 of 5)

Likert’s “four systems” of work:

System 1: Exploitative Authoritative.

System 2: Benevolent Authoritative.

System 3: Consultative.

System 4: Participative Group.

Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.

Management Practices (4 of 5)

Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid:

Concern for Production and Concern for People.

Rated on a scale of 1 (low) to 9 (high).

Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.

Management Practices (5 of 5)

Herzberg’s “Motivation-Hygiene” Theory:

Motivators: Achievement, recognition, quality work, learning.

“Hygiene Factors”: Supervision, pay, benefits, physical work environment.

Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.

Quality and Employee Involvement

Follows out of new set of management practices.

Employees involved and now begin to participate in quality teams.

Quality circles, ISO 9000, eventually Total Quality Management and Six Sigma.

Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.

Employees involved and now begin to participate in quality teams: heavily influenced by Japanese styles of management now beginning to be noticed in American companies.

Organizational Culture (1 of 2)

Culture: “the shared attitudes, values, beliefs, and customs of members of a social unit or organization.”

Interest explodes in the 1980s with books and magazine articles that suggest that the right culture can improve productivity and profits.

Organizational Culture (2 of 2)

Organizations undertake culture “audits,” evaluate themselves against competitors, try to create “strong” cultures.

Elements of culture: language, metaphor, jargon, communication patterns, media, artifacts, stories, myths, legends, ceremonies and rituals, values, ethics, decision making styles, and more.

Change and Reengineering (1 of 2)

OD becomes more strategic, connected to organization-wide concerns.

Practitioners help executives with vision, mission statements, values, strategic planning implementations.

Change and Reengineering (2 of 2)

Organizational leaders realize that the right strategy is meaningless unless communicated, understood, and adopted by organizational members.

Explosion of academic research in change management.

Organizational Learning (1 of 2)

Grows in 1990 with the publication of Peter Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline.

Systems thinking.

Personal mastery.

Organizational Learning (2 of 2)

Mental models.

Shared vision.

Team learning.

Single loop versus double loop learning.

Organizational Effectiveness and Employee Engagement

OE replaces Organization Development as a preferred term in some practitioner circles; may be an attempt to stress the business results focus.

Engagement replaces earlier terms such as motivation, morale, and satisfaction.